Wendy Morse has been promoted to regional manager of the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) offices in Bennington and Rutland.

Her goals are to strengthen the overall delivery of regional VDOL services in Bennington and Rutland counties; implement collaborative integration of services targeting specialized populations, and support and develop workforce development programs.

Morse has worked for the labor department since 2002 as a career development facilitator III, and as the interim manager while the position was under recruitment through the state’s system. She has extensive work experience in marketing, advertising, purchasing and sales.

Morse has served as co-chair of the Workforce Development Partnership of Bennington County, and as chair of the Adult Workforce Council. She also has served on the work force and education committee of the Bennington County Economic Development Task Force, and was recently elected to the board of directors of Bennington County Industrial Corp.

She also has been a VDOL coordinator on behalf of the Career Readiness Program in Bennington, and provided leadership and development of several other work force development projects in Bennington County,including the Bennington County Region Career & Job Expo. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from North Adams State College in Massachusetts.

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Chris Martin has joined People’s United as senior vice president, government banking.

He has more than 30 years of experience in the banking and securities industries, and is responsible for developing the government banking business, including lending, deposit and cash-management services with public-sector clients across the bank’s New York and New England footprint. He also has been a government finance relationship manager at Fleet/BankBoston, and a senior vice president and manager at Webster Bank in Connecticut.

Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in education from the University of Connecticut. For the past seven years, he has been a board member of Wellmore Behavioral Health, a $20 million not-for-profit serving the mental health needs of greater Waterbury, CT. He is also president of the Laura Andrews Free Library Association of Thomaston, CT.

Founded in 1832, People’s United Bank is a subsidiary of People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT), a diversified financial services company with $30 billion in assets. People’s United Bank, founded in 1842, has locations in Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

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Laraine B. Smith has been named vice president and wealth advisor for the Vermont region of Berkshire Bank’s Wealth Management Division.

Smith, who has almost 40 years of experience, provides investment management, trust administration and asset allocation services from the bank’s office in Manchester Center.

Smith spent the majority of her career with People’s United Bank (formerly Chittenden Bank), where she served as senior vice president since 1980. Before that, she worked in similar capacities at TrustCo Bank and KeyBank.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Siena College, and graduated from the National Trust School at Northwestern University. Smith is treasurer of the board of trustees at Bennington Museum, a past chair and trustee for Southwestern Vermont Health Care, and a former member of the board of the Manchester Rescue Squad.

Berkshire Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE: BHLB). Including the acquisition of Beacon Federal Bancorp, it has approximately $5.2 billion in assets and 73 full-service branch offices in Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. v